On April 27, China’s state media, the Global Times published an editorial entitled, “The Korean Summit Achieved Progress; the United States Should Follow the Trend.” The article stated that the Kim-Moon Jae-in meeting wrote about the goal of denuclearization and in “the Panmunjom Declaration,” was striving for an end to the (Korean) war. However, all the writings were visions; they were not exact plans. The fundamental reason is that these issues ultimately require the United States to come out and talk directly with North Korea. South Korea can only convey its willingness. Its bargaining power is limited.

One cannot help but say that South Korea has played an important role in breaking the deadlock on the peninsula and ushering in today’s negotiations. The situation in the past few months has proved that Seoul will take the initiative to guide the situation as long as it can create and fight for the opportunity. It used to be too obedient to Washington. In the future, Seoul should be more courageous in upholding (and acting on) its own opinions.

For example, President Trump said more than once that he may meet Kim Jong-un or he may not. However, whether Trump will meet Kim Jong-un should not merely be a unilateral decision of the White House. The Blue House (Cheong Wa Dae) should have the right to participate fully in forming opinions. Because what the United States will do is closely related to the interests of South Korea, Seoul is not an outsider, no matter whether Kim and Trump will meet and how they will meet.